Archive for the ‘Solis’ Category

Gaffe-prone Vice President of the United States Joe Biden appeared before a union meeting today that did not permit the prying eyes of media cameras and microphones.

The Veep, who is well known for his ramblings and stupid remarks, has been coached repeatedly to stay on message and to adhere rigorously to prepared remarks as they scroll across the telepromter. Now maybe he can escape a public event without putting his foot in his mouth by simply not allowing the media to record his outings.

The AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting and newly appointed Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are both in Miami this week drumming up support for the bill that would give workers the option of unionizing by getting a majority of the workers to sign cards or a petition instead of holding secret ballot elections.

Biden addressed union members Thursday morning before heading to the Miami Intermodal Center, a transportation project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Know why nobody listens to Joe Biden? Because he says stupid stuff, or isn’t recorded at all and certainly doesn’t have Obama’s ear….

Nobody listens to Joe Biden because he isn’t worth hearing….

Toby Hardin of the Telegraph in London wrote about an Obama news conference on February 10:

As reporters started giggling, Obama came close to conceding that Biden was indeed a joke. “You know, I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly.”

US Vice President Joe Biden gestures while US President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building January 21 in Washington, DC. That day the Veep made fun of the Chief justice for his inabiklity to recite the oath of office; which Biden flubbed himself despite a cue card….(AFP/Getty Images/Brendan Smialowski)

From Fox News:

Vice President Joe Biden’s office said Thursday it is honoring the wishes of the union to not have the press attend, which the AFL-CIO acknowledged after previously telling FOX News it was the vice president’s decision….

So much for transparency, but who’s messing with Joe?

Cameras have been banned from Vice President Biden’s address to AFL-CIO leaders in Miami Thursday.

The vice president’s office said Thursday it is honoring the wishes of the union to have press cameras barred.

“Traditionally, the AFL-CIO Executive Council meetings are closed press. Each of its sessions this week have been closed press,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement.

The AFL-CIO acknowledged Thursday that it was its choice to ban cameras after telling FOX News a day earlier it was the vice president’s decision. Alexander said the veep tried to change the rule but was denied.

“As part of its unprecedented commitment to transparency, Vice President Biden’s office asked that a change to the policy be made so that a pool of print reporters would be allowed to cover the speech and a full transcript of the vice president’s remarks will be sent out this afternoon.”

“No Drama Obama” was a phoney. The man with hope, an MLK like dreamy quality, and a kinship for Abraham Lincoln quickly offered us catastrophe.

He created catastrophe. Manufactured it. And Thurday night at a Spa, in a room reserved for Democrats only, he blamed it all on Republicans, during an off the telepromter gloat that will haunt him forever.

What do you say to people that gave their trust and hope; who believed the message, just a few weeks ago, was honest?

What do you tell people who thought their vote might help heal America and bring this Great Nation to a better place, when they are already expressing dismay?

Gail Collins wrote in the New York Times about Daschle’s loss and the stimulus.

“I dropped out of school for a semester to campaign for Barack Obama. And now I’m asking myself whether I spent four months living with my aunt and going door to door in Dayton, Ohio, just so we could have a stimulus plan written by a bunch of moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats in the Senate,” Ms. Collins wrote.

Honesty, credibility, believebility, faith and hope make small presidents great.

Barack Obama was never small. But he grew to epic, even Messianic proportions fueled by adoring crowds and a fawning media.

I’ve been participating in the public discussion for more than ten years, and I have never before seen the American people go so quickly from favoring a politician, to questioning and even hating, and in such numbers, as this.

Barack Obama’s “Rant At The Spa” last night before an all Democrat partisan crown did nothing to help him pass the stimulus and gain the faith and confidence of the American people.

If our email, phone and other comment indicators are any indication, well more than 60% of the population has turned against this president since his inauguration on January 20.

Rasmussen, Gallup and other poll groups say somewhere near 50% of American voters now worry about or disapprove of the way Obama is going.

Bill Sammon, formerly of The Washington Times and now the Washington Examiner and a Fox News contributor said today after the Robert Gibbs White House news conference, “Americans are growing to resent Barack Obama for the way he has handle this stimulus.”

The stimulus has not, unfortuanately, been the president’s only black eye. His nomination of tax scofflaws and lobbyists to top positions is now a fequent theme of those sending us comments.

Polls show the American people expressing disgust and dismay. And they have less and less confidence in the president and their lawmakers.

President Obama did not let up in his use of ugly languange and efforts to get the stimulus passed in the Senate on Friday.

“These numbers demand action. It is inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work,” Obama said bluntly. “Now is the time for Congress to act.”

Labor Secretary-designate Hilda L. Solis on Thursday became the fourth senior administration nominee in a month to see their Senate confirmation slowed or scuttled over problems with their taxes.

A Senate committee abruptly canceled a confirmation vote on Ms. Solis after news reports that her husband, Sam Sayyad, had 15 outstanding state and county tax liens placed on his Los Angeles auto repair shop.

The White House said that Mr. Sayyad and his wife were unaware of the liens and that Mr. Sayyad had paid the county $6,400 on Wednesday to settle the debt.

However, the revelation compounded the political damage done by the failed nominations of former Sen. Tom Daschle to be secretary of health and human services and of Nancy Killefer to be “chief performance officer” in the White House budget office, both because of tax problems.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was belatedly confirmed last month after contentious hearings prompted by revelations that he had failed to pay self-employment taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund.

The problems are not limited to Obama appointees.

By David M. Dixon
The Washington Times

Al Franken, whose narrow election as senator from Minnesota is being challenged in court by Republican Norm Coleman, was slapped with $25,000 in penalties for failing to pay workers’ compensation for the company he established in New York. He also had to pay $70,000 in back taxes and penalties to 17 states, where he earned income between 2003 and 2006.

Mr. Franken has claimed that he paid taxes on all of his income to Minnesota and New York, where he lived. He said he is due tax refunds of $50,000 from those states.

The spate of tax problems, recalling similar issues with nominees in the past two administrations, has raised questions whether the U.S. tax code is so complex that even Washington insiders and their highly paid accountants cannot navigate the rules.

“The only indictment coming out of these … cases is our complex tax system,” said Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communication for the National Taxpayers Union…